August 2015
Motor Sports, 1956-61
Any motor sports fans out there recall the good ‘ol days of rallies and racing? Our donor Loris Goring shared the following with us (via email):
I was heavily involved in the Singapore Motor Club in this period overseas with the British Air Ministry and thoroughly enjoyed our Rallies and the Mobilgas Economy Runs of that period. In particular though I remember the rallies where we were not allowed to even have a boiled sweet in the car in case Chin Peng popped out of the jungle to either shoot u or lob a hand grenade into the car.
In this days motorways were not even though of and the main roads though they had well maintained surfaces by the Public Woks department were narrow and tortuous. In particular, a rally that took us through Slim River was a drivers nightmare encompassing I think some 26 miles of hairpin bends with a huge drop on one side and high jungle cover on the other. If taken at a leisurely pace it was no problem but in our rallies we were give precise speeds and expected to arrive at any hidden checkpoint within plus of minus fifteen or thirty seconds, The problem was the speed we were expected to complete those miles. Not, I may say a frantic racing speed but modest but extremely difficult to keep knowing that breaking on every hairpin added time and accelerating out onto yet another short straight made navigation a nightmare. Often these rallies involved not only night driving but twelve hour stints before any food or sleep. Quite hard when you remember that cars in those days were not air conditioned the first ones only appearing in Malaysia around 1960.
The Mobilgas Economy event drew excellent entries but the rallies far less but perhaps because they were too grueling and folks still had to go to work on Monday.
Saving La Salle from Nippon
The statue of Saint John Baptist De La Salle on the gable of St. Michael’s Institution
A reporter from The Star newspaper, Christina Koh wrote about the story of how the brothers at St. Michael’s Institution rushed to save a large bronze statue of Saint John Baptist De La Salle by removing it, loading it onto a bullock cart and taken to the St. Michael’s Church where it remained until the end of the war.
To read the full article, click here.
The Public Pool

Recently, there was a report about the public pool (near the Perak Stadium) being closed for renovations. From what I’ve observed before it closed, this pool is rather popular among Ipoh-ites – especially the little ones.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know WHEN the pool was built?
Famous Names – Bro Vincent of SMI
I’m sure many of you recognise the gentleman in white (with a walking stick). Yes, it’s none other than Bro Vincent Corkery! He recently celebrated his 70th anniversary as a La Salle Brother at St Michael’s Insitution, Ipoh.
To read the full article published by The Star Online, click here
The School that Iversen designed
Any Sam Tet alumni reading this? Well, I’m sure you recognise this building. According to our donor, Ruth Iversen Rollitt, her late father – B M Iversen – designed it!